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Had this exact issue with my setup last summer. The thing people miss is usable capacity — your Fogstar Drift is great but you're realistically working with maybe 80Ah before the BMS gets twitchy,...
Ollie Thompson in Q&A 4 weeks ago thumb_up 7
Been putting together a dedicated emergency backup setup for the house — not a full off-grid system, just something that'll keep the essentials running during a grid outage.
Camper Dan in Q&A 4 weeks ago thumb_up 3
Spent the last few weekends wiring up my static at the site in North Wales and I've ended up in a bit of a situation.
Quiet Maker in Q&A 4 weeks ago
Good shout from @Turbo34 on the Cyrix. Another angle worth considering @BPH_Boats — have you looked at a DC-DC charger (B2B) like the Orion-Tr Smart to top up your AGM from the LiFePO4 bank?
Compo55 in Batteries & BMS 4 weeks ago thumb_up 2
PaulMurray | 47 posts Had almost identical grief with a cheap shunt on my tiny house build last year.
Paul Murray in Q&A 4 weeks ago thumb_up 5
Picked up a pair of the official Victron temperature sensors for my Cerbo GX last month — the ones that plug straight into the dedicated sensor ports.
Barry in General Chat 4 weeks ago
@Jim1980 had something similar on my narrowboat setup — turned out to be a dodgy cell interconnect busbar causing a localised voltage drop that was fooling the BMS into thinking a cell was lower...
Panel Kate in Batteries & BMS 4 weeks ago
Bump your absorb time to at least 2 hours mate — 30 mins on a 200Ah bank is like trying to fill a bath with a thimble, the Victron barely gets going before it's already clocking off for a nap 🛁
Chopper54 in Q&A 4 weeks ago thumb_up 2
LochSpirit | 891 posts @Ian1968 One thing nobody's mentioned yet — the JK BMS Bluetooth module shares the same ground reference as the balancer circuitry.
Loch Spirit in Batteries & BMS 4 weeks ago thumb_up 5
@RelayBuild had exactly this with my shepherd's hut build — Drift cells are decent but they're not happy with sudden high-draw spikes if your BMS trip threshold is set too tight. Few things worth...
Paddy Dixon in Batteries & BMS 4 weeks ago
Same situation last February on the boat — three sunless days wiped me out completely. I've got a Honda EU22i now but nearly pulled the trigger on that Parkside.
Solar Julie in Emergency & Backup Power 4 weeks ago thumb_up 3
@DefenderWanderer curious about the adaptive algorithm in practice — does it actually adjust meaningfully based on alternator load, or is it more of a marketing angle? I'm in the process of...
Van Kev in DC-DC Chargers 4 weeks ago thumb_up 7
Planning a small off-grid setup for a timber garden office, roughly 12m². Not connected to the mains and the groundworks to run a cable would cost more than the solar kit, so going fully off-grid.
River Runner in Garden Offices 4 weeks ago thumb_up 1
@RetiredEngineer86 once you've seen your battery SOC graphed over 30 days you'll never go back to just squinting at an LED bar like a caveman 📊
FET_Fan in Monitoring & System Design 4 weeks ago thumb_up 6
So I've been running a basic split charge relay in my Transit-based van for the past couple of years and it's always felt a bit agricultural.
Gill Ward in Motorhome & Campervan 4 weeks ago thumb_up 5
Been through exactly this on the narrowboat last winter — bitter mornings when the cut was iced over and my SmartSolar was doing all sorts of odd things.
Lisa Kelly in Solar Panels & Controllers 4 weeks ago thumb_up 9
DucatoDream | 634 posts | 🚐 Narrowboat/Motorhome/Hut Obsessive @CamperRachel Three winters ago I was exactly you — sat in my Ducato somewhere near Shrewsbury, laptop dying, cursing the grey skies...
Ducato Dream in Emergency & Backup Power 4 weeks ago thumb_up 4
FormerMechanic15 | 212 posts Had a shepherd's hut setup running on second-hand batteries for two years before switching to Fogstar lithium last autumn.
FormerMechanic15 in On a Budget 4 weeks ago thumb_up 3
So I've been scratching my head over this for a few weeks now. I've got a 200Ah lithium leisure battery in my Transit-based camper and I'm using a Victron Orion-Tr Smart 30A B2B to charge it from...
Camper Andrea in Motorhome & Campervan 4 weeks ago thumb_up 6
Chris1984 | 📍 East Anglia | ⚡ Off-grid & Narrowboat @Shaun1970 nice project! On a Centaur, the most popular spot seems to be under the companionway steps or in the original battery box under...
Chris in Marine & Boat 4 weeks ago thumb_up 8